Saturday, August 10, 2013

Interview with best-selling author Rosen Trevithick.

1.When and why did you decide to become an
Indie writer?

I
was on holiday in Fowey, an inspiring Cornish estuary town, when I read in an
article that authors no longer needed at ISBN to self-publish for Kindle. I’ve
always been a keen creative writer but found it difficult to reach my target
audience. This was the push I needed to write and finish a novel.

2.What genre do you write in and what
genre do you prefer to read?

I
write in a variety of genres including crime and psychological fiction, but
humorous fiction is the genre I feel most comfortable writing. This year, I’ve
started writing humorous adventure stories for children but I am primarily a
writer for adults.

I
prefer to read comedy but I do like a bit of mystery and suspense. Ben Elton’s
books epitomise what I like in a read – humorous mysteries with a bit of social
commentary thrown in for good measure.

3.Where do you sell most books, USA or UK,
Amazon or Barnes and Noble?

The
vast majority of my sales are Kindle books. I tend to sell the most books in
the UK, but the US is a close second. So far I’ve sold a grand total of … drum
roll please … two books on Barnes and
Noble (as opposed to tens of thousands on Kindle).

4.During your childhood who was your
biggest influence?

Roald
Dahl, hands down. He was the king of humour and grisliness. He had some great
plots too. I read Matilda and The BFG over and over again. We had an
audiobook of The Witches, which I
never tired of hearing. I remember The
Witches coming out on video. It was filmed in Newquay, Cornwall, which made
it even more appealing to me.

Michael
Morpurgo was also a big influence.

5.Are you fortunate enough to write
full-time?

Alas,
I am not even fortunate enough to work full time full stop. I have health problems which massacre any chance of
regular employment. I do try to fit in writing whenever I can. Originally, I
wrote fiction to add structure and focus to my life, but over the last year,
self-employment has started to look like a viable long term option. I still have
a long was to go, but things are moving in the right direction. This is a big
deal for me because there were a number of years in which I thought I’d never
work again.

6.If Hollywood came knocking who would you
want to play your main character?

My
only recurring characters are in my Smelly Trolls series and that’s based
around the lives of three children. It’s hard to mentally cast child stars
because they grow up so quickly – I do try and keep my wild fantasies
realistic!

However,
there are odd characters who seem well suited to certain actors. For example,
both Maggie Smith and Stephanie Cole would be superb at depicting Muriel, the
cantankerous mother-in-law from My Granny
Writes Erotica. She has some great lines that I can’t help hearing read in
Maggie Smith’s voice.

7.Name 6 people, dead or alive, you’d love
to have as guests seated around your dinner-table.

8.What one piece of advice have you found
the most important in your writing career?

It’s
hard to narrow it down to one piece of advice. Being prepared for knockbacks
and letting them wash over you is a useful skill to have. I’ve heard of writers
who gave up publishing after their first negative review, but bad reviews
happen to everybody and you have to be strong enough to keep going if you want
a career in publishing.

9.What are your plans for the coming year?

I’ve
just started writing a third Smelly Troll book, which will completeish my first
‘Trollogy’. I also plan to release a second short story collection – Seesaw Volume 2.

I’m
hoping to do more work with primary schools. This summer I worked with a class
of ten-year-olds to make their own short story collection. It was very
rewarding and I’m keen to get stuck into similar projects with other schools.

10.And
finally, if you were stranded on a desert island what three books would you
choose to have with you?